diff --git a/src/axolotl/cli/__init__.py b/src/axolotl/cli/__init__.py
index b20e4f085..8955eca3e 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/cli/__init__.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/cli/__init__.py
@@ -2,4 +2,7 @@
 
 import os
 
+from axolotl.logging_config import configure_logging
+
 os.environ["HF_HUB_ENABLE_HF_TRANSFER"] = "1"
+configure_logging()
diff --git a/src/axolotl/cli/checks.py b/src/axolotl/cli/checks.py
index cc3ed0d9f..47348240e 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/cli/checks.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/cli/checks.py
@@ -8,9 +8,6 @@ from accelerate.commands.config import config_args
 from huggingface_hub import HfApi
 from huggingface_hub.utils import LocalTokenNotFoundError
 
-from axolotl.logging_config import configure_logging
-
-configure_logging()
 LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
diff --git a/src/axolotl/cli/config.py b/src/axolotl/cli/config.py
index 64bf402b9..8f1fe7185 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/cli/config.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/cli/config.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import logging
 import os
 import tempfile
 from pathlib import Path
+from tempfile import NamedTemporaryFile
 from typing import Union
 from urllib.parse import urlparse
 
@@ -158,7 +159,9 @@ def plugin_set_cfg(cfg: DictDefault):
         plugin_manager.cfg = cfg
 
 
-def load_cfg(config: Union[str, Path] = Path("examples/"), **kwargs) -> DictDefault:
+def load_cfg(
+    config: str | Path | DictDefault = Path("examples/"), **kwargs
+) -> DictDefault:
     """
     Loads the `axolotl` configuration stored at `config`, validates it, and performs
     various setup.
@@ -170,13 +173,24 @@ def load_cfg(config: Union[str, Path] = Path("examples/"), **kwargs) -> DictDefa
     Returns:
         `DictDefault` mapping configuration keys to values.
     """
-    config = check_remote_config(config)
-    if Path(config).is_dir():
-        config = choose_config(Path(config))
+    if isinstance(config, (str, Path)):
+        config = check_remote_config(config)
+        if Path(config).is_dir():
+            config = choose_config(Path(config))
 
-    # Load the config from the yaml file
-    with open(config, encoding="utf-8") as file:
-        cfg: DictDefault = DictDefault(yaml.safe_load(file))
+        # Load the config from the yaml file
+        with open(config, encoding="utf-8") as file:
+            cfg: DictDefault = DictDefault(yaml.safe_load(file))
+
+        cfg.axolotl_config_path = config
+    else:
+        cfg = config
+        with NamedTemporaryFile(
+            mode="w", delete=False, suffix=".yml", prefix="axolotl_config_"
+        ) as temp_file:
+            temp_file.write(yaml.dump(config.to_dict()))
+            temp_file.close()
+        cfg.axolotl_config_path = temp_file.name
 
     # If there are any options passed in the cli, if it is something that seems valid
     # from the yaml, then overwrite the value
@@ -190,8 +204,6 @@ def load_cfg(config: Union[str, Path] = Path("examples/"), **kwargs) -> DictDefa
             else:
                 cfg[k] = kwargs[k]
 
-    cfg.axolotl_config_path = config
-
     try:
         device_props = torch.cuda.get_device_properties("cuda")
         gpu_version = "sm_" + str(device_props.major) + str(device_props.minor)
diff --git a/src/axolotl/cli/utils.py b/src/axolotl/cli/utils.py
index 7cc4d2744..ee00db39d 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/cli/utils.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/cli/utils.py
@@ -20,11 +20,9 @@ from transformers import (
     ProcessorMixin,
 )
 
-from axolotl.logging_config import configure_logging
 from axolotl.utils.dict import DictDefault
 from axolotl.utils.models import load_model, load_processor, load_tokenizer
 
-configure_logging()
 LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
diff --git a/src/axolotl/common/datasets.py b/src/axolotl/common/datasets.py
index 3e712f772..2ab405ef1 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/common/datasets.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/common/datasets.py
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ def sample_dataset(dataset: Dataset, num_samples: int) -> Dataset:
 def load_datasets(
     *,
     cfg: DictDefault,
-    cli_args: Union[PreprocessCliArgs, TrainerCliArgs],
+    cli_args: PreprocessCliArgs | TrainerCliArgs | None = None,
 ) -> TrainDatasetMeta:
     """
     Loads one or more training or evaluation datasets, calling
@@ -64,7 +64,8 @@ def load_datasets(
     tokenizer = load_tokenizer(cfg)
     processor = load_processor(cfg, tokenizer=tokenizer) if cfg.processor_type else None
     preprocess_iterable = (
-        hasattr(cli_args, "iterable")
+        cli_args
+        and hasattr(cli_args, "iterable")
         and cli_args.iterable is not None
         and cli_args.iterable
     )
@@ -76,7 +77,7 @@ def load_datasets(
         preprocess_iterable=preprocess_iterable,
     )
 
-    if (
+    if cli_args and (
         cli_args.debug
         or cfg.debug
         or cli_args.debug_text_only
diff --git a/src/axolotl/core/trainer_builder.py b/src/axolotl/core/trainer_builder.py
index 358058f69..31ee3cccf 100755
--- a/src/axolotl/core/trainer_builder.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/core/trainer_builder.py
@@ -488,7 +488,7 @@ class HFCausalTrainerBuilder(TrainerBuilderBase):
 
         # these are all the "standard" kwargs that are def used
         training_arguments_kwargs["max_steps"] = (
-            total_num_steps if self.cfg.max_steps else -1
+            self.cfg.max_steps if self.cfg.max_steps else -1
         )
         training_arguments_kwargs["max_seq_length"] = self.cfg.sequence_len
         training_arguments_kwargs["per_device_train_batch_size"] = (
diff --git a/src/axolotl/evaluate.py b/src/axolotl/evaluate.py
index a6a192bc7..6d6813730 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/evaluate.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/evaluate.py
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ from accelerate.logging import get_logger
 from datasets import Dataset
 from transformers.trainer import Trainer
 
-from axolotl.logging_config import configure_logging
 from axolotl.train import (
     TrainDatasetMeta,
     setup_model_and_tokenizer,
@@ -24,7 +23,6 @@ project_root = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), ".."))
 src_dir = os.path.join(project_root, "src")
 sys.path.insert(0, src_dir)
 
-configure_logging()
 LOG = get_logger(__name__)
 
 
diff --git a/src/axolotl/monkeypatch/attention/ring_attn/patch.py b/src/axolotl/monkeypatch/attention/ring_attn/patch.py
index b5587ddca..fa03bd174 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/monkeypatch/attention/ring_attn/patch.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/monkeypatch/attention/ring_attn/patch.py
@@ -12,10 +12,8 @@ import torch
 import torch.distributed as dist
 from accelerate.logging import get_logger
 
-from axolotl.logging_config import configure_logging
 from axolotl.monkeypatch.utils import get_cu_seqlens_from_pos_ids
 
-configure_logging()
 LOG = get_logger(__name__)
 
 
diff --git a/src/axolotl/train.py b/src/axolotl/train.py
index 7896239de..2768a8111 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/train.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/train.py
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ from axolotl.core.trainers.mixins.sequence_parallel import (
     SequenceParallelContextManager,
 )
 from axolotl.integrations.base import PluginManager
-from axolotl.logging_config import configure_logging
 from axolotl.utils.dict import DictDefault
 from axolotl.utils.distributed import cleanup_distributed
 from axolotl.utils.freeze import freeze_layers_except
@@ -42,7 +41,6 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     BetterTransformer = None
 
-configure_logging()
 LOG = get_logger(__name__)
 
 
diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/config/__init__.py b/src/axolotl/utils/config/__init__.py
index e5ea44aa0..35e742a89 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/config/__init__.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/config/__init__.py
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ def resolve_dtype(cfg):
         else:
             LOG.debug("bf16 support not detected, disabling for this configuration.")
             cfg.bf16 = False
-            if cfg.fp16 is None:
+            if cfg.fp16 is None and not cfg.float16:
                 cfg.fp16 = True
 
     if cfg.device == "mps":
diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/trainer.py b/src/axolotl/utils/trainer.py
index 69aaabfa6..96f54b39d 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/trainer.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/trainer.py
@@ -597,6 +597,8 @@ def prepare_optim_env(cfg):
         os.environ["ACCELERATE_MIXED_PRECISION"] = "bf16"
     elif cfg.fp16:
         os.environ["ACCELERATE_MIXED_PRECISION"] = "fp16"
+    else:
+        os.environ["ACCELERATE_MIXED_PRECISION"] = "no"
 
 
 def prepare_opinionated_env(cfg):